Mao, Elvis and Muhammed Ali - Reuters was there

What was it really like to tread on Chairman Mao’s toes, meet Elvis, or report ringside from a Muhammed Ali fight? How does it feel when, in the turmoil of post-colonial Africa, you hear someone being executed outside your prison cell, or, when reporting on the war in Yugoslavia, your jeep is taken out by a landmine?

The answers are provided by Reuters’ correspondents who were there. The book, published in the company’s 150th year, was one of the first of many to appear under the Reuters imprimatur.

The editors were Nicholas Moore (Reuters 1964-2000), former correspondent and editor, and Sidney Weiland (Reuters 1949-1986), former diplomatic editor, who died in 1999 before its publication. Weiland was another Reuters legend, known to colleagues and competitors alike as “Sizzling Sid” for his seemingly ceaseless activity and the prodigious pace of his output.

A Staff Benevolent and Welfare Fund (later renamed Reuters Centenary Fund) was established on 7 March 1951 with a transfer from the Pension Fund Reserve and a supplementary grant authorised by the board to mark the company’s centenary celebrations. Its purpose is to deal with special cases of hardship affecting staff members and pensioners and their dependents.